Television schedule system

ABSTRACT

Screen (10) for a user interface of a television schedule system and process consists of an array (24) of irregular cells (26), which vary in length, corresponding to different television program lengths of one half hour to one-and-one half hours or more. The array is arranged as three columns (28) of one-half hour in duration, and twelve rows (30) of program listings. Some of the program listings overlap two or more of the columns (28) because of their length. Because of the widely varying length of the cells (26), if a conventional cursor used to select a cell location were to simply step from one cell to another, the result would be abrupt changes in the screen (10) as the cursor moved from a cell (26) of several hours length to an adjacent cell in the same row. An effective way of taming the motion is to assume that behind every array (24) is an underlying array of regular cells. By restricting cursor movements to the regular cells, abrupt screen changes will be avoided. With the cursor (32), the entire cell (26) is 3-D highlighted, using a conventional offset shadow (34). The offset shadow (34) is a black bar that underlines the entire cell and wraps around the right edge of the cell. To tag the underlying position--which defines where the cursor (32) is and thus, where it will move next--portions (36) of the black bar outside the current underlying position are segmented, while the current position is painted solid.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 08/033,773, filedMar. 19, 1993, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,721, which is herein incorporatedby reference in its entirety, and which is a continuation-in-part bothof U.S. Ser. No. 7/579,555, filed Sep. 10, 1990, now abandoned, which isherein incorporated by reference in its entirety, and of U.S. Ser. No.07/916,043, filed Jul. 17, 1992, now abandoned, which is hereinincorporated by reference in its entirety and which is a continuation ofU.S. Ser. No. 07/778,404, U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,789, filed Oct. 17, 1991,which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety and which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 07/428,620, filed Oct. 30, 1989,now abandoned, which is herein incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

One aspect of the present invention relates generally to a system andprocess that allows a television viewer to access on screen televisionprogram listings and use the program listings in an easy and convenientway to control operation of a video cassette recorder (VCR) or otherrecording device. In particular, it relates to a system and process thatdisplays on a television screen, overlaying a primary television displayor program, a small background schedule guide that can be easilyaccessed by a user during lulls in the primary television display orprogram.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to such a system andprocess that creates a directory of recorded programs by title for easyretrieval and program playback. More particularly, it relates to such asystem and process in which the VCR or other recording device iscontrolled by a simple selection of program title and a record command,even for recording at a future date and time. Most especially, itrelates to such a system and process incorporating an intuitive userinterface.

Yet another aspect of the present invention relates generally to a cabletelevision (CATV) decoder interface. More particularly, it relates tosuch an interface for connecting the cable television decoder to atelevision accessory, such as a video cassette recorder (VCR). Mostespecially, it relates to such an interface which maintains fullfunctionality of the television accessory while connected to thedecoder.

The difficulty of setting a VCR for automatic recording at a future dateis notorious. Even users who are technically sophisticated will oftenmake mistakes in the VCR programming procedure that cause them to recordthe wrong program or not to record anything at all. This difficulty haseven resulted in a substantial body of humor dedicated to the subject ofprogramming VCRs.

The difficulty of VCR programming has been alleviated somewhat by thedevelopment of VCRs that use a television set as a display for userprompts and feedback to the user during the programming process. U.S.Pat. No. 4,908,713, issued Mar. 13, 1990 to Michael R. Levine, disclosessuch a VCR using the television set as a display for VCR programmingwith an interactive user interface for directing the user on astep-by-step basis. Such a user interface removes a great deal of themystery from VCR programming, but users still have difficulty with sucha command-based interface and encounter problems carrying out theprogramming without making mistakes that cause them to miss recordingprograms they would like to watch at a different time than when they arebroadcast.

Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,121, issued Nov. 10, 1987 toPatrick Young, discloses a system and process in which user selectionsfrom television schedule information are used for automatic control of aVCR. That patent also contains a description of a proposed userinterface for such a system and process. However, the provision of ahighly intuitive user interface that makes such a system and processeasy and convenient to operate is a difficult task. Further developmentof this system and process has produced considerable change in the userinterface as originally proposed.

In addition to simplifying VCR programming, users who do a substantialamount of program taping also need an improved system and process forkeeping track of their recorded programs. Commonly assigned applicationSer. No. 07/219,971, filed Jul. 15, 1988, in the name of Patrick Young,discloses a system and process that provides indexing capability fortaped material. A user interface for a television schedule system andprocess should also handle this capability on an intuitive basis.

Thus, while the art pertaining to the control of VCRs and to televisionschedule systems is a well-developed one, a need still remains for atelevision schedule system and process incorporating an improved userinterface. In particular, unlike most computer menus, a grid TV guide isan array of irregular cells, where the cell size can vary from afraction of an hour to many hours--extending well beyond the currentscreen. If this array is navigated by a cursor that goes from cell tocell, a single cursor command can produce violent screen changes. Forexample, a cursor right command may cause an abrupt jump to a cellsituated several hours from the current page. Not only is thisunsettling, but may take considerable effort to recover. Clearly, agentler cursor motion is needed for the irregular cells found in a gridTV guide.

Printed grid television schedule guides often include additionalinformation besides the program title and broadcast names. Such gridsare also typically provided in combination with a more detailed printedschedule that contains a synopsis of each program, whether the programis a repeat, ratings for movies, and other information. When using atelevision set as a display for a schedule system, the size andresolution of the television display limit the amount of text that canbe displayed with the grid. Improved techniques are required forconveying the most amount of information to the user in an easilyunderstood manner within the limitations of the television display. Whena large number of channels are available for viewing, there is also aneed to order the display of information most conveniently for the user.

Programming a VCR for unattended recording becomes even more problematicwhen it is desired to record cable programs. Cable television decoderstypically operate by requiring a television set and a VCR connected tothe decoder to be set to a predetermined channel, such as channel 2, 3or 4, and all channel selection is accomplished by the decoder. Thispresents problems for unattended recording, in that not all of theadvanced features available on state-of-the-art VCRs can be used whilethe VCR is under control of the decoder.

Two Zenith Electronics Corporation technical papers disclose systemswhich attempt to deal with this problem. Merrell, "Tac-Timer," 1986 NCTATechnical Papers, pp. 203-206, discloses a smart remote controller tosolve the unattended programming problem when a cable decoder precedes aVCR. The smart controller is programmed to turn on the cable decoder atspecific times, but the VCR must be programmed independently to matchthe programming of the smart controller. However, this remote controllerdoes not coordinate channel selection for such devices as televisionschedule systems, such as disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,121,issued Nov. 10, 1987, nor does it support unique features of moreadvanced VCRs. For example, this controller does not support on-screenVCR programming, even if that feature is otherwise available on a VCR.The controller does not include any capability for conveying informationabout a channel selected on the cable decoder unit to a televisionschedule system or a VCR in any useful way.

Long, "The VCR Interface," 1986 NCTA Technical Papers, pp. 197-202,discloses two solutions for the unattended programming problem when acable decoder precedes a VCR. The first of these is a VCR basebanddecoder, also called BASE-TAC, and currently marketed by Zenith asMultiPort or MP. MPs allow the core functions (descrambling andaddressing) of a cable decoder to be added to TVs and VCRs. The decoderaccepts the baseband output of the TV or VCR tuner, eliminating the needfor a separate decoder tuner and attendant need to coordinate twotuners. This method is effective for supporting television schedulesystems and allows full functionality of advanced VCR features. However,the MP alternative requires new TV or VCR equipment and is notcompatible with the existing installed base of cable decoders. Thismethod has not been well-received at this time. The second is the VCRInterface, which uses RF switching and a centralized approach for allTVs and VCRs in the home. It descrambles incoming CATV channels and,after modulation, combines them back onto the CATV cable at unused upperchannels. The result is that any TV set on the cable can receive premiumchannels without a separate decoder. This method eliminates the need forredundant decoders at every TV set or VCR. As described, the system wasconceived for only one premium channel. To support a television schedulesystem, all premium channels must be descrambled together and beavailable simultaneously. If not, it would be necessary to provide a wayof tuning the centralized descrambler from any TV set or VCR attached tothe cable. Such a scheme would be awkward when more than one TV or VCRcompetes for control of the single descrambler. The VCR interface may beimplemented using retrofitted decoders, but the overall cost may beprohibitive for the average home.

A somewhat similar system for use with the German television networks isdescribed in Sommerhauser, "Video Programm System: Flexibelprogrammieren mit VPS," Funkschau, No. 25, December 1985, pp. 47-51.

Other prior art relating to CATV, its decoders, and programmable remotedevices includes west German Published Application 2,338,380, publishedFeb. 13, 1975; U.K. Patent 1,554,411, published Oct. 17, 1979; U.S. Pat.No. 4,375,651, issued Mar. 1, 1983 to Templin et al.; U.S. Pat. No.4,394,691, issued Jul. 19, 1983 to Amano et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,114,issued Jan. 31, 1989 to Sogame. While the prior art relating to cabledecoder interfaces and similar devices is a well-developed one, a needremains for further development of such devices. None of the existinginterfaces both provides a complete solution to the problem ofunattended recording and is compatible with already installed equipment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The above problems and difficulties present in the prior art areovercome through the use of the novel system and method of the presentinvention. One aspect of the present invention is directed to a systemand method to allow automatic, unattended recording of cable televisionprograms supplied on a cable system as herein disclosed. A videorecording system to allow automatic, unattended recording of at leasttwo cable television programs supplied sequentially at different timeson different channels of a cable system includes a television receiver,a remote controllable cable decoder and a remote controllable videorecorder with unattended programming capability connected between thetelevision receiver and the cable decoder. A remote controller for thevideo recorder includes a means for user input of program selectionsfrom a television schedule. The remote controller is coupled to thevideo recorder. A channel selection coordinator includes a memory meansfor storing channel tuning conversion information and program selectionsinput by the user with the means for user input of program selections. Ameans converts channels of the at least two program selections tochannel tuning commands recognizable by the cable decoder using thechannel tuning conversion information and the program selections. Ameans automatically transmits the channel tuning commands to the cabledecoder at desired activation times of the at least two programselections (typically the broadcast times, with a guard time at thebeginning and end of each program). A means automatically suppliesrecording commands to the video recorder at the desired activation timesof the at least two program selections.

The method of this aspect of the invention automatically records cabletelevision programs supplied sequentially at different times on a cablesystem unattended, even with channel changes between the programs. Aremote controllable video recorder having unattended programmingcapability is connected between a television receiver and a remotecontrollable cable decoder. Channel tuning conversion information isstored in a memory. Program selections for at least two programs ondifferent channels is input from a television schedule with a remotecontroller for the video recorder. The program selections are stored inthe memory. Channels of the program selections are converted to channeltuning commands recognizable by the cable decoder using the channeltuning conversion information and the program selections. The channeltuning commands are automatically transmitted to the cable decoder atbroadcast times of the program selections. Recording commands areautomatically transmitted to the video recorder at the broadcast timesof the program selections.

Another aspect of the present invention is directed to a noveltelevision schedule system and process user interface herein disclosed.A television schedule system including a user interface in accordancewith this aspect of the invention has a display and a means connected tothe display for displaying the television schedule on the display as anarray of irregular cells which vary dimensionally in length,corresponding to different television program time lengths. A means isconnected to the display for providing a cursor with the televisionschedule on the display. The cursor has a variable length correspondingto the length of a selected one of the irregular cells in which thecursor is located. A means is connected to the means for providing thecursor for moving the cursor in the array in a series of equal lengthsteps. At least some of the irregular cells have a length which isgreater than the length of the steps.

In the process of operating a television schedule system with the userinterface of this aspect of the invention, the television schedule isdisplayed as an array of irregular cells which vary dimensionally inlength, corresponding to different television program time lengths. Acursor is provided with the television schedule on the display, thecursor has a variable length corresponding to the length of a selectedone of the irregular cells in which the cursor is located. The cursor ismoved in the array in a series of equal length steps, with at least someof the irregular cells having a length which is greater than the lengthof the steps.

In another aspect of the invention, a control system for a videorecording machine has a controller for starting and stopping the videorecording machine, for recording video information on recording media,and for playing recorded video information on recording media. A displaygenerator provides display image generation signals. A means suppliesinformation to the display generator for generation of display imagesrelating to operation of the video recording machine. The means forsupplying information includes means for generating a recording mediaposition indicator graduated as segments corresponding to programsrecorded on the recording media.

In a process for controlling a video recording machine according to thisaspect of the invention, a recording media position indicator isgraduated as segments corresponding to programs recorded on therecording media. The recording media position indicator is displayed asposition of a selected one of the recording media in the video recordingmachine is changed.

In a further aspect of the invention, a television schedule systemincludes a display and means connected to the display for displaying thetelevision schedule on the display. The means for displaying a scheduleis configured to allow selection by a user of a first number of desiredchannels for display of schedule information which is less than a secondnumber of available channels. A programmable tuner is connected to themeans for displaying a schedule. The programmable tuner is configured tofollow the first number of desired channels when the television scheduleis shown on the display in response to a channel up or channel downcommand. The programmable tuner is configured to follow the secondnumber of available channels in the absence of the television scheduleon the display in response to a channel up or channel down command.

In a process for operating a television schedule system according tothis further aspect of the invention, a first number of desired channelsis selected for display of schedule information, which is less than asecond number of available channels. The schedule information isdisplayed on a display. The first number of desired channels is followedwhen the schedule information is shown on the display in response to achannel up or channel down command. The second number of availablechannels is followed in the absence of the television schedule on thedisplay in response to a channel up or channel down command.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, user controlof a television is simplified by a system and process that displays on atelevision screen, overlaying a primary television display or program, asmall background schedule guide that can be easily accessed by a userduring lulls in the primary television display or program.

The attainment of the foregoing and related objects, advantages andfeatures of the invention should be more readily apparent to thoseskilled in the art, after review of the following more detaileddescription of the invention, taken together with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1-3 are diagrammatic representations of a television schedule gridincorporating the user interface for the system and process of thisinvention.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of a screen display used in thesystem and process of the invention.

FIGS. 5-7 are additional diagrammatic representations of the televisionschedule grid incorporating the user interface for the system andprocess of the invention.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart for understanding the operation of the FIG. 7diagram.

FIGS. 9-10 are additional diagrammatic representations of screendisplays of the user interface for the system and process of theinvention.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart for understanding the operation of the FIGS.9-10 diagrams.

FIGS. 12-13 are diagrammatic representations of taping and tape indexscreen displays of the user interface for the system and process of theinvention.

FIGS. 14-17 are diagrammatic representations of program selection bycategory screen displays of the user interface for the system andprocess of the invention.

FIG. 18 is a flow chart for understanding operation of the FIGS. 14-18diagrams.

FIG. 19 is a flow chart for understanding operation of the FIG. 20diagram.

FIG. 20 is a diagrammatic representation of a channel customizationscreen display of the user interface for the system and process of theinvention.

FIG. 21 is a diagrammatic plan view of a control panel for the system ofthe invention.

FIGS. 22a and 22b are block diagrams of television schedule systems inaccordance with the invention.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram of a system for interfacing a cabletelevision decoder to a television accessory in accordance with oneaspect of the invention.

FIG. 24 is a more detailed block diagram of the system shown in FIG. 23.

FIG. 25 shows a setup screen for a background guide according to oneaspect of the present invention.

FIGS. 26a and 26b show background guide presentations according to oneaspect of the present invention.

FIG. 27 shows a screen presentation according to another aspect of thepresent invention.

FIGS. 28A and B illustrate grazing functions according to a particularaspect of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

I. User Interface

Turning now to the drawings, more particularly to FIGS. 1-7, there areshown a series of menu screens 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22 used inoperation of the system and carrying out the process of the invention.Screens 10, 12, 14, 18 and 20 each consists of an array 24 of irregularcells 26, which vary in length, corresponding to different televisionprogram lengths of one half hour to one-and-one half hours or more. Thearray is arranged as three columns 28 of one-half hour in duration, andtwelve rows 30 of program listings. Some of the program listings overlaptwo or more of the columns 28 because of their length. Because of thewidely varying length of the cells 26, if a conventional cursor used toselect a cell location were to simply step from one cell to another, theresult would be abrupt changes in the screens 10, 12, 14, 18 and 20 asthe cursor moved from a cell 26 of several hours length to an adjacentcell in the same row. Such abrupt changes disorient a user of thesystem.

An effective way of taming the motion is to assume that behind everyarray 24 is an underlying array of regular cells. By restricting cursormovements to the regular cells, abrupt screen changes will be avoided.However, there is now a potential ambiguity between the underlying cellwhich governs cursor movement and a visible cell 26 which holds theprogram title.

Viz.: if the cursor moves in half hour steps, and the cell length is,say four hours, should the cursor be 1/2 hour long or four hours long?If the cursor only spans the interval of the underlying cell (1/2 hour),the cursor appears to be highlighting a segment of the cell, which ismisleading. On the other hand, if the cursor spans the entire four hoursof the TV listing, the cursor underlying position will be obscure. Inthis case, cursor right/left commands will appear inoperative whiletraversing a long cell. The absence of feedback following a cursorcommand is befuddling to users. Therefore, an innovative cursor 32(FIG. 1) for the irregular array 24 is required which satisfies severalconflicting requirements.

With the cursor 32, the entire cell 26 is 3-D highlighted, using aconventional offset shadow 34. The offset shadow 34 is a black bar thatunderlines the entire cell and wraps around the right edge of the cell.To tag the underlying position--which defines where the cursor 32 is andthus, where it will move next--portions 36 of the black bar outside thecurrent underlying position are segmented, while the current position ispainted solid.

For an half hour cell 26, the offset shadow's underline bar will alwaysbe solid black. FIGS. 2 and 3 show the cursor 32 as it appears for ahalf-hour program. For programs that go beyond 1/2 hour, only thecurrent 1/2 hour position will be solid black. All remaining positionswill be stripped. If the cursor is moved left or right, the solidsection will move accordingly, providing complete visual feedback. Thus,this modified 3D offset shadow cursor 32 satisfies the demands statedabove: it spans the entire cell, yet clearly highlights the currentunderlying position. Movement of the cursor 32 will always be visibleeven for cells 26 that are much longer than the underlying cell.

A grid continuity icon 38 is shown in FIG. 1. Printed grid televisionschedule guides often include parenthetical comments, (such as "cont'd")to indicate program continuity. In an electronic guide displayed on a TVscreen, limited text space precludes parenthetical comments. To conservespace, an icon 38 will be used to indicate cell 26 continuity. At theborder of a cell 26 that is continued to the next screen, an arrow icon38 pointing to the right will be overlaid. The arrow direction alwayspoints to right, which is the direction of program elapse.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show recording status representations. When a program hasbeen selected for recording, its listing cell 26 will be outlined orhighlighted in red, as indicated at 40. If guard time has been added ordeleted, the cell will be stretched or shrunk to reflect the change.Cell 26 continuity will be treated the same as above. There are fourother record status representations:

If the cell is actively being recorded, the

outline 40 will blink off and on.

A recorded cell will be displayed with a solid red background 42 (Note:Not shown in drawing).

A mis-recorded cell will be indicated by red hash-marks 44 over thetitle. A mis-recording can be the result of insufficient tape, VCR lossof power, stopped before completion, etc.

A program linking icon 46 is shown in FIG. 5. After each scheduleupdate, the schedule system examines the new listings for the occurrenceof any titles that match a title in Linked Titles (FIG. 23). If a titlematches, it will automatically be tagged for recording. When a linkedprogram is displayed in the guide, it will have two identifiers: a redoutline 40 indicating that the title has been selected for recording,and a link icon 46 appended to the title to indicate that this title waslink-selected. After a linked program has been recorded, it will betreated like any recorded program with the title shaded in red. Todifferentiate this recording from others, the link icon will remainappended to the title.

Further details on the linking feature are given in screen 19 of FIG.23. 1) A linked program 47 may be suspended by the user (perhaps toavoid conflict with a pending recording), by de-selecting the link titlein the Link List screen, under the Record Memo command. A suspended linkprogram will still be identified by a link icon, but the red-outlinewill be suppressed since the program will not be recorded. 2) A smartlink process is used to tame the matching of titles when there is alikelihood of excessive candidates for recording. The Lucy show, forexample, is often syndicated on several channels, each running adifferent vintage series of Lucy. Untamed linking may result in aplethora of recording, mixing segments from one vintage with segmentsfrom another vintage. To differentiate vintages of a series, each Lucyvintage can be given a distinct title. For example, one may be entitled"The Lucy Hour", while another may be "The Lucy Show", etc. However, dueto syndication right overlaps, it is possible for two or more televisionor cable TV stations to carry the same vintage of a series, but still berunning different segments of the same vintage. For such series, thelink list will include the channel and time as well as the link title.For the avid Lucy-phile, the user can locate each series individuallyfor linking. If there is more than one link title of the same name, theseries will be numbered, in the order of acquisition. Thus, the secondLucy will be identified as Lucy (Two), at 47.

FIGS. 1-3 show the columns 28 headed by half-hour header statusindicators. The 1/2 hour header strip across the top of the grid TVguide has two auxiliary functions: 1) as an indicator 48 of pending orin-progress recording scheduled at that time, and 2) as a time-bar 50 todelineate the past from the future. The past is darkened, while thefuture is lightly shaded. If there is an in-progress recording, the 1/2hour header will be red-outlined at 48 in the same manner as a pendingrecording title cell 26.

FIG. 6 shows a television schedule grid screen 20 with a program noteoverlay 52. With limited text capacity on TV displays, it is preferableto display as many lines of TV listings as feasible. To handle programnotes, which are text intensive, on-demand overlays 52 are used. Programnote overlays 52 may include any or all of the following information:

A program genre

Program description

Stars and personalities

Year of release

Episodic subtitles

Run-time of program

Elapse time of the program

Critique (Star Ratings)

Rating (PG, G, etc.)

Call letter, channel markers

Closed caption, stereo.

Pay Per View Program

Program notes for a selected program are overlaid over the grid guideupon request. The program note can be toggled off/on using a SELECTcommand. The program note 52 overlays and hides 3 or 4 listings of aguide. To minimize concealment of the guide, an auto-roving note isused. The program note will overlay either the top half or bottom halfof the screen, as necessary to avoid masking the title of the selectedlisting. If the cursor 32 is in the upper half of the screen, the notewill appear in the bottom half, and vice versa. If the cursor 32 ismoved to the lower half of the screen, the note will automaticallyposition itself in the upper half of the screen.

FIGS. 1-3 and 5-6 show a channel column 54 in the television schedulegrid 24. Favorite stations and cable channels may be listed together tocreate a personalized grid guide. The channel column 54, unlike mostprinted TV guides, has a mix of over-the-air station names and cableservices names.

The grid 24 guide lists channels by favorite combinations of stationnumber and cable names, and not in the usual numerical order. Note thatthe order of channels can be arranged in any sequence, and need not bethe numeric grouping followed by alphabetical grouping, as shown in thefigures. For example, the first channel of column 54 may be DIS,followed next by channel 44, next by A&E, next channel 4, etc. Themethod of rearranging the channels is described in detail below. Whenviewing the grid 24 guide, a Tuner Up/Down channel command will bemapped according to the channels and order listed on the screen. Whennot viewing the guide, the tuner sequence will revert back to the usualnumerical order. When the last channel on a page is reached, the nextTuner command will change the channel to the channel listed at thebeginning of the following page.

When a channel to which the tuner is tuned is displayed on the grid 24,it is highlighted, as shown at 56. A grid 24 page may be changed byeither a page command or by entering a channel Up/Dn command asdescribed above. If a page is turned using the page command, the currentchannel is now located in the previous page, and will not be seen in thenew page. Therefore, the new page must suppress the highlighting of achannel, since that indicates the current channel. Note that informationabout the current channel will still be presented in the channelinformation boxes 58 at the bottom of the screen.

When is the highlighting re-enabled? Once into the new page, the firstchannel up/down command will cause the tuner to automatically change tothe channel listed in the last or first row 30 respectively of the newpage. Since the tuner channel is now located on the new page, thecurrent channel will be highlighted again.

If the channel highlighting is not suppressed after a page is selected,by definition, the tuner must be changed to track the highlightedchannel. This is undesirable since casual paging should not cause thechannel to change.

When a guide is first opened, as shown in FIG. 2, both the cursor 32 andthe current channel 56 are situated on the same row 30 of the grid 24.When the channel 56 is changed, it is desirable to drag the cursor 32along with the channel in unison. In doing so, the cursor 32 will beready for a Select command (to retrieve the program note) or for aRecord It command. Cursor dragging by the channel command takes placewhenever the channel 56 and cursor 32 are united on the same row. Ifthey are not united, the cursor 32 is disengaged from the channelcommand. Note that dragging is not reciprocal; moving the cursor 32 doesnot affect channel selection.

FIG. 7 shows a screen 22, showing a program list 58 for a singlechannel, generated by toggling a user What's On TV command, whichswitches between the grid 24 and the list 58. The list 58 consists ofrows 60 of sequential program listings on the channel and a channelinformation field 62. Program notes are overlaid on the list 58 in thesame manner as shown in FIG. 6 for the grid 24.

Each What's On TV command alternates between the grid guide 24 and theWhat's Next on Channel row guide 58. While viewing the grid guide 24,the next What's On TV command will replace the grid guide 24 with asingle-channel row guide 58. FIG. 8 is the flow diagram for the What'sOn TV command.

The page relationship between the two guides 24 and 58 are tightlycoupled. The single channel guide will open to the channel and scheduletime that was selected by the cursor 32 on the grid 24. While viewingthe single channel guide 58, the Up/Down channel command may be used tochange the channel to be listed. When exiting the single channel guide58 and returning to the grid guide 24, the grid cursor 32 will bepointed to the channel and schedule time last selected on the singlechannel guide 58.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show channel grazing overlays 64 and 66 that provideinformation on current programs when switching channels while watchingtelevision. In the overlay 64, when scanning channels, the title of eachprogram is overlaid at 68, along with the name of the TV service (HBO,ABC etc.), the cable channel number, and the current date, day of week,and time in the channel information field 62. The overlay 66 is the sameas the overlay 64 except that this overlay includes a program note 70,which is similar to the program note 52 in FIG. 6, but containsinformation pertinent to a program currently being broadcast on theselected channel. To access program notes, press the Select key. Inaddition to the program note 70, elapsed time is indicated by apercentage calibrated time bar 72. The bar is bracketed by S for start,and F for finish. By default, titles will appear automatically whenchannels are scanned. Grazing Titles may be de-activated using theCANCEL key. To restore auto-titles, press Select while viewing TV. Theflow diagram governing titles/program notes, while viewing TV, is shownin FIG. 11.

An express recording screen 74 is shown in FIG. 12. The expressrecording screen includes the following information:

Title of Program

Length of Program

Tape Time Remaining

Recording Speed.

FIG. 13 shows a tape index screen 76. Locating a recorded segment isoften an arduous task when several programs have been recorded on thetape. Without a table of contents, the VCR users muddle throughstretches of recording trying to find what's recorded on the tape, wherethe beginning of the desired program is, and where the tape is now. Somepremium VCRs provide tape indexing that automatically finds the start ofeach recording. However, while the viewer can find the start of arecording, the indexing VCRs do not record titles. The net result isabout as useful as a having a table of contents without chapter titles.Considerable searching is still required to find what is recorded ateach index. The tape index screen 76 provides a virtual tape directory,giving the equivalent function of a table of contents for a taperecording. There is a list 78 of titles of recorded programs, a pointer80 to the start of the program, and a current position indicator cursor82 showing the "chapter" location on the tape. The virtual directory isautomatically compiled, revised and stored in off-tape memory as theuser records over the tape.

The What's on Tape command will display a list of titles of programsrecorded on the tape. The title of the selected program (the segment oftape that is positioned over tape head) is highlighted by the cursor 82.The tape position pointer 80 dynamically tracks the current tapeposition. All searching is done simply by title, bypassing the need forindex numbers. To play back a program, the up/down cursor command isused to select the program. For example, to play back Judge, the downcursor is pressed until it highlights the program Judge. As seen in FIG.13, the tape head is currently positioned over Star Trek with the cursoron Star Trek. When the cursor is moved to Judge, the tape willimmediately begin going forward to the start of Judge. Although thecursor immediately underscores the Judge listing, the tape lags behindas shown by tape position indicator 80, which will be gradually movingdown. To graphically portray tape movement, a tape motion indicatorfield, block 100, is provided, as explained below.

The tape directory is equivalent to a table of contents showing titles,but not page number. It automatically opens to the starting page bysimply pointing to the title of the program. In addition to the tapedirectory 78 of recorded programs, the screen 76 includes a programduration field 84, a recorded speed of each title field 86, a remainingtime left on tape field 88, a remaining time left on program field 90and a next scheduled recording time field 92.

The virtual tape directory is generated as follows. It is difficult toimplement a competent self-contained tape directory for a non-randomaccess storage such as a video tape. No matter where the directory isstored on the tape, the latent access time to locate the directory andreturn to current position (for a standard six hour tape) isexcruciating slow, in the order of 6 to 10 minutes.

If redundant directories are recorded uniformly across the tape tominimize latency time, the problem of sluggishness is merely shiftedfrom playback to updating the multiple directories. After each videoprogram is recorded, the entire tape must be scanned to update eachdirectory. Even if this update process is automated, there is a questionof excessive wear on tapes and the VCR itself. Viz.: each recording, nomatter how short, results in high-speed scanning of the entire tape inorder to revise all directories.

Even more troubling is the question of when to perform the update, sincethere is no "safe" period for the VCR to take control. For example, theuser may have stopped the tape momentarily, perhaps to skip commercials,only to find that the VCR has commandeered control and place the tape ina high speed update mode. The safest update is one that isuser-initiated. Unfortunately, few VCR users will follow a regimentedprocedure of updating after each recording session. Clearly, an on-tapedirectory based on existing technology is not satisfactory.

The following innovative solution, the "virtual tape directory", storesdirectory information in off-tape memory and does not require an on-tapedirectory or any augmentation of the video cassette. Since the directoryis held in external memory instead of the tape, it is best suited fortapes that have recently been played and recorded, the "working tapes".

When a program is recorded, the title of the program is written to thedata (control track) channel of the tape and, at the same time stored ina non-volatile (NV) memory. Other information about the recordedprogram, such as length of program, theme category, date recorded, andtape identifier code may be written to the data channel, as well asstored in the NV memory. The NV memory is adequate to support a numberof working tapes.

When a tape is first loaded, the tape data channel will be scanned for afew seconds to identify the recorded program under the tape head. Thisdata will be matched against the directories stored in NV memory. Ifthere is a match, the directory of the working tape will be displayedimmediately when the What's On Tape key is pressed. The "virtual" tapedirectory appears to have been read from the tape, but is actuallyobtained from NV memory.

If there is no match, a new directory for the tape will be created.During playback and recording of this tape, a virtual directory will begenerated for that tape. Directories of inactive tapes will beautomatically purged from memory as new working tapes are introduced.

The foregoing off-tape realization of the virtual tape directory is anapproach that can be implemented without any alterations to existingvideo cassettes. However, with minor augmentation of the video tapecassette and video recorder mechanism, a true random-access permanentdirectory for each tape can be realized.

In a preferred implementation, a digitally encodable read\write planarmagnetic strip is located on a surface of the video cassette. Ideally,the strip will be located on one of the four planes which are orthogonalto the direction of video cassette insertion, for a front loading VCR. Amost preferred location is on the face of the video cassette, which isusually reserved for a 11/2" by 2" label. In the video recorder, aread\write magnetic head is located to be aligned with the magneticstrip as the cassette is inserted. The head comes into contact with themagnetic strip when the cassette is loaded or removed from the recorder.As the cassette is inserted, the stored data from the strip will be readand transferred to the tape directory buffer of the electronic guide.When programs are recorded on or erased from the tape, the content ofthe tape directory buffer will be updated to reflect the program contentand index location of the program on the video tape. As the videocassette is ejected from the recorder, the content of the tape directorywill be transferred to the magnetic strip on the video cassette. Byaugmenting the video cassette with a random access rewrite permanentmemory, directory information for the tape is retained long after avideo record session. This method is a significant improvement overusing the tape media itself to record directory information.

In the above method, the movement of the video cassette magnetic stripduring cassette insertion and ejection over a stationary magnetic headallows the magnetic flux changes to be sensed. Alternatively, a movingor rotating read write magnetic head mounted on the video recorder canbe used to scan a stationary magnetic strip after the video cassette isloaded. In this variation, data from the magnetic strip can be read andupdated immediately from the tape directory buffer. Such magnetic stripencoding is similar to that commonly used in credit cards, personnelidentification tags, security entrance cards, etc. As anotheralternative, optical read write methods may be used instead of magneticencoding.

It is relatively easy to estimate remaining time of a scheduledtelevised program with the assist of a clock and a TV schedule. Incontrast, there are few clues as to current location during playback ofa recorded program, particularly when there are several recordedsegments on a tape. Tape index counters or running-time clocks requirediligent bookkeeping before the start of a recorded segment. Fewconsumers will tinker with 5 or 6 digit numbers when a "ballpark"indicator is adequate, such as, "is the program about over?", or "aboutwhen does the next segment starts?". Clearly, there is need to provide alocation indicator without the burden of bookkeeping.

To provide an at-a-glance indicator of relative tape location, anon-screen tape position gauge 94 has been devised. The tape positiongauge 94 consists of a vertical bar 96 with the arrow pointer 80 locatedon the left edge of the screen 76. The arrow 80 dynamically tracks thecurrent tape position as the tape is advanced or rewound.

The gauge 94 is graduated, not in linear units, but in units of recordedsegments 98 with each segment labelled with its program title. Thus, a10 minute program or a 6 hour program is represented as one verticalunit corresponding to the height of the left vertical edge of a titleline. Since the left vertical edge of a title is the same for allprograms (independent of program duration), the position indicator isonly a rough approximation of actual tape position. If the arrow ispointing at the upper 25% of the left vertical edge of a title line, itindicates that the tape head is positioned approximately into the first25% of the program. If a conventional linear gauge were displayed, a farmore complicated gauge would be required, that would likely confuserather than clarify.

As noted by the tape position indicator 80 in FIG. 13, the tape head ispositioned to the start of Star Trek. If the viewer wishes to play backanother program, the cursor is simply moved until it highlights thedesired program. As soon as the cursor is moved to another program, thetape will immediately go forward or backward to the selected program.Tape position pointer 80 will move very slowly if it is scanning past along program. This motion may not be readily apparent. To provide anunequivocal graphic representation, a tape motion indicator field, block100, indicates direction of scanning and whether the tape is beingprepared for playback or for recording.

Thus, this tape gauge 94 provides a quick capsule indication of thewhere the tape head is currently positioned, relative to the currentprogram, and relative to other programs or the tape, and the title ofother programs.

The tape index screen 76 includes a tape motion indicator field 100.When the tape is undergoing high speed repositioning, the What's On ThisTape (WOT) screen 76 will be displayed. During high speed search of along program, the tape gauge 94 will appear to be dormant, since thegauge is relatively coarse for programs of long duration. To supplementthe tape gauge 94, the tape indicator 100 is included. During high speedpositioning, one of these messages will be displayed in the space abovetwin-hub tape icon 102: GO PLAY, GO RECORD, FORWARDING, REVERSING,PAUSE, and STOP.

GO PLAY is displayed while the tape is repositioning to the selectedtitle. When the title is reached, the WOT screen 76 will be displaced bythe playback video. GO RECORD is displayed while the tape is positioningto the selected program segment 98, where the new recording will bewritten.

FIGS. 14-17 show Theme function screens 104. The Theme function allowsthe viewer to quickly sort the downloaded schedule and display a subsetschedule based on a subject of interest. The user has the freedom toselect listings sorted first by major themes, second by topic(s) withina theme, and/or by topic qualifiers. All guides sorted by theme, topicand qualifier will be displayed in a row-tabulated format and begins bylisting programs nearest to the current half-hour. The theme functionscreens 104 have the following attributes: Rotating Themes. There arefour theme categories, with each theme title enclosed inhorizontally-arranged selection boxes 106. From left to right, thethemes are: Movies! Sports! Specials! TV Fare! FIG. 18 is a flow diagramdefining the Theme command. Topic Selection. There are up to 16 topics108 for each theme arranged in an 8 row by two column field 110. Anynumber of topics may be selected under a selected theme. Topics is alogical OR function, meaning that each listing that meets the definitionof the topic will be displayed. For example under the theme of Movies,if the topic titles Comedy and Satire are selected, a subset schedule ofboth comedy movies and satire movies will be displayed. Other qualifiersmay include a Pay Per View selection box in addition to the Liveselection box of FIGS. 16 and 17.

Default All Selection: when the Theme screen 104 is first opened, thefirst slot (upper left most topic 108) will be highlighted. This is theALL function, which is the sum of all topics 108 for the selected theme.The ALL function was created to minimize key stroking.

Without an all topic category, the user must enable all 16 topics 108individually. Conversely, if the user wishes to go from an all topics toan individual topic, the user must cursor to and deselect each of theother 15 topics.

Qualifiers: each theme includes a group of search attributes orqualifiers 112. The qualifiers for each theme 106 are shown in therespective one of FIGS. 14-17 for each theme 106. Any number ofqualifiers can be enabled at one time. These qualifiers perform alogical OR functions; they will select for display all listings (sortedfirst by theme and topic) that satisfy the qualifiers.

The qualifiers 112 are positioned for easy selection. The selection ofqualifiers is made using the usual cursor commands. When a theme 106 isinitially opened, by default, the cursor is located near the top of thescreen. To minimize cursor commands, the qualifiers are also locatednear the top of the screen. In contrast, placing the qualifiers at thebottom of the screen would require a round trip of up to 16 key strokes.

The complete theme sorting strategy is defined as follows: ##EQU1##

This may be read as listing all Topic A that also meets Qualifier A orQualifier B, plus all Topic B that also meets Qualifier A or QualifierB, etc. For example, the qualifier field of FIG. 14 includes four star****, three star ***, two star ** and one star * rated TV programs,based on the auxiliary schedule information described above. Byselecting both the **** and *** boxes, only programs that have at leasta three star rating will be listed. Other criteria, such as year ofrelease, may also be included as a qualifier field. In this case, theguide will restrict listings to movies or TV shows released during aspecified year period. The year period may be implemented with twoselection boxes: the first box indicating the start year and the nextbox indicating the end year. To change the year window, the year valuesmay be incremented or decremented with the page up/down keys when a yearbox is selected.

Qualifiers, topics and themes are rooted in relational databaseoperations and allow logical sorting of the schedule. To support thesehigher order of sorting, auxiliary data must be delivered to the VCR. Incontrast, simple sorting operations, such as sorting by time and bychannel are inherent in the fundamental information of a TV guide, anddo not require auxiliary search data.

The keystroke sequence for using the themes screens 104 are as follows.While watching TV, the first Theme key command will summon the openingtheme screen with the left most theme, Movies, highlighted. Furthertheme commands will rotate the theme selection from left to right. Eachtheme screen will be initialized to the ALL (topics) selection. If notopic selection is made, an all topics guide for the selected theme willbe displayed upon depressing the Select/Goto command.

To additionally sort the theme by a single topic, position the cursorkey to the desired topic and depress the Select/Goto key. Use the cursorto return to a topic.

To sort by more than one topic, position the cursor over each desiredtopic and depress the Select key. When finished, press Select/Goto todisplay a multiple-topic guide.

To sort by one or more attributes, position the cursor over each desiredattribute and press the Select key. When finished, move the cursor to atopic and press Select/Goto to retrieve the theme/attribute-sorted TVguide.

Other than express recording, all recording activities are controlledwith the Record Memo screen 16 of FIG. 4. The Record Memo screen 16 isaccessed with a Record Memo key. When the Record Menu key is depressed,the following titles enclosed in horizontally-arranged selection boxes114 will appear at the top of the opening screen. From left to right:

    ______________________________________                                         Pending      Recorded   Linked    On-Grid                                    Recordings!  Programs!  Titles!   Prog.!                                      ______________________________________                                    

Each Record Memo key command will highlight a new selection, rotatingfrom left to right, and wrapping around to Pending Recordings after theright most position. FIG. 19 is a flow diagram defining the Record Memocommand.

FIG. 20 shows a Channel Customization screen 116, which is an example ofone embodiment of a channel selection menu. The screen 116 allows theuser to customize channels to match viewing interest, providing acompact listing as well as eliminating undesired channels during up downscanning. During schedule update, a list of all cable channels availableat the subscriber's cable system (or broadcast stations for over-the-airsubscribers) is also delivered to the VCR. This unabridged set ofchannels may be customized using screen 116.

The channel customization screen 116 has two fields, a 3 column field118 listing up to 36 unabridged channels and a single column field 120listing 12 favorite MY channels. The latter is a replica of the channeldescriptor column 122 (FIG. 1) of the opening grid guide. Additionalpages are available (using the page key to swap between the pages) toaccommodate systems with more than 36 channels. Each cell 124 in the 3column field 118 contains the following information:

Channel number and program service name (such as HBO or station KTVU,2). The cell 124 is color-coded to indicate the following states:

ON, default state before any customization, with the cell 124 in lightgreen background.

MY, favorite channels listed in the single column field 120, also shownin the three column field 118 with a blue background.

OFF, a channel deleted from all guides, as well as during Channel Up/Dnscanning (still accessible using the ten key channel keypad). OFF cellshave a gray background.

When first installed, the system assigns the first 12 (listed innumerical order) channels as MY favorites. The channel status may bechanged by selecting a channel and picking a state, MY, ON, or OFF usingthe SELECT key. Since only 12 favorites are allowed, the user must firstremove a favorite channel by changing the status of an existing favoritechannel to OFF or ON. When that is done, the first column willautomatically open up a space for the next MY selection. When a new MYis selected, the MY column 120 will automatically insert the newselection in the prescribed order. The order of listing in the MYfavorite channel column 120 is as follows:

All favorite broadcast stations will be listed first in numerical order.Next, all cable services will be listed in alphabetical order.

A new cable service, which displaces a previous service, will beinserted under the previous status. Example: If the channel was MY, thenew service will be MY. However, a new cable service that appears on anew channel will be initialized ON.

In another embodiment of the channel customization method, any number ofchannels may be arranged to suit the preference of the viewer. In thisapproach, column 54 is not required and is not displayed. Instead, anychannel listed in the three-column field may be re-ordered in anysequence desired. In this method, a channel whose order is desired to bechanged is selected using a cursor. A destination slot is then selectedand the transfer is made, with intervening channels being adjusted inposition towards the source slot. For example, to move channel 30 DIS tothe number one slot (shown occupied by channel 2, KTVU), the sourcechannel (DIS) is first highlighted by positioning the cursor andpressing the SEL/GOTO key. The selected channel will then appear asslightly offset from its normal position (not shown in the drawing). TheUp/Down cursor commands are then used to move the cursor to thedestination slot (KTVU), and the SEL/GOTO key is then pressed again.Channel 30 (DIS) will then appear in the first slot, and all channelsthat were previously from the destination slot to just above the sourceslot will be moved down one slot. If a channel is moved to a lowerposition rather than a higher position, all channels previously from thedestination slot to just after the source slot will be moved up oneslot.

In yet another embodiment of the channel customization method, theviewer can re-order channels using a drag and drop method. Again, thecursor is used to select a channel in a source slot. An imagerepresenting the channel symbol is then dragged into the desireddestination slot for the channel and dropped, and intervening channelsare adjusted as discussed above.

Another embodiment employs channel customization prompt menus tore-arrange channels. In this approach, each channel label issequentially displayed over time in a default sequence (such asnumeric/alphabetic sequence, or according to the previously selecteduser-sequence). The channels are preferably displayed one at a time. Theviewer can select a priority for each channel as it is displayed. or canskip to the next channel label. If a priority is given, the channel willbe moved into the channel slot corresponding to the entered priority, asif it were selected and moved into that slot as discussed above. Thepriorities that may be assigned range from 1 to 9, the highest number onthe numeric keypad (in some embodiments 0 is used to represent 10). Notethat the total number of channels that can be re-arranged is not limitedto the number of priorities (9). For example, the user could assign thesame priority (such as number 1) to as many channel labels as desired.The last selected channel label would then appear in the number 1 slot,with the remainder immediately following below, according to the orderin which they were selected.

FIG. 21 shows a front panel 130 for a remote controller of the schedulesystem. The top half of the front panel 130 corresponds to aconventional remote controller for a television set and a VCR. Includedare a dual function ten key keypad 132, with the alternate functions ofeach key and its digit shown, a TV/VCR toggle key 134, volume andchannel up/down keys 136, and VCR control keys 138. The lower half ofthe front panel 130 contains control keys that are specific to theschedule system. Included are a What's On Tape key 140, a What's On TVkey 142, a Theme key 144, a Record Memo key 146, a Record It key 148, aLink It key 150, a Help/Menu key 152, a Select/Goto key 154, Left,Right, Up, Down and Page Cursor keys 156, a Return TV/VCR key 158 and aCancel/Undo key 160. The use of these keys has either been explainedabove or is apparent from their labels.

FIGS. 22A and 22B are block diagrams of television schedule systems/tapecontrollers 180 and 182 in which the user interface is used. Theschedule system/controller 180 is applicable to existing televisionequipment, where the schedule system is separate from the basictelevision equipment. Programmable tuner 202 is shown as part of a cabledecoder. The schedule system/controller 182 is shown as integrated intoa VCR 211. In this version, a cable decoder is not required, and tuner207 is part of the VCR 211. It should be clear from these two systems180 and 182 that the schedule/tape controller may be integrated intoother television equipment, such as a cable decoder or a TV/Monitorreceiver. It is also practical to implement the entire schedule/tapecontroller in a remote controller by adding a text display, such as anLCD screen, on remote controller 212.

In the system 180, programmable tuner 202, which may be part of a cabledecoder unit, receives a TV signal from antenna 200 and/or from cableinput 205. Tuner output 216 goes to a vertical blanking interval (VBI)decoder 222, which may be a closed caption decoder or a high speedteletext decoder. Listing information and other support information,such as cable channel assignment data, will be transmitted over the VBIby one or more local stations or cable channels several times a day orcontinuously.

When update is required, programmable tuner 202 will be tunedautomatically to the station or cable channel carrying the data. Afterthe VBI signal is processed by CPU 228, the listing data is stored inschedule memory 232, while the cable channel assignment data is storedin cable-specific RAM memory 238. This data is used to convert genericTV source names, such as HBO, to channel assignments for the specificcable system.

Other information transmitted to the schedule/tape controller 180 andstored in the system RAM memory 240 includes clock update data to setsystem clock 230 automatically, schedule update time, which may varyfrom once a day to a continuously transmitted format, new themecategories, and last minute schedule change data.

For a What's on TV request, the listing stored in schedule memory 232 isretrieved, processed by CPU 228, and outputted to video displaygenerator 224. Video switcher 226 is enabled by CPU output 246 to selectthe video display generator 224 output whenever schedule data is to bepresented to the TV/monitor 210.

When a request to time-shift record a program is made, the title of theprogram and its record parameters (channel, start time and length) iscopied from the schedule memory 232 to the Record Memo RAM memory 236.When the system clock 230 matches the schedule time, the CPU 228 willissue a channel command to the programmable tuner of the cable decoder202 (tuning it to the selected channel), and a power on and recordcommand to VCR 206 by means of an infrared remote driver 214 directed atinfrared input ports of these two devices. In the VCR integrated version182, the command to the tuner 207 is made on a wired bus 264.

In addition to programming by selecting a title from the on-screenschedule, it is also possible to program the VCR 206 or 211 and thecable decoder 202 or 207 with remote controller 212. In this mode,programming information is entered into the remote controller 212, andat the desired activation time, the remote controller 212 will issueprogramming commands to the proper TV device. While there are universalremote controllers that offer programming capability, none allow theuser to enter generic names, such as station and cable channel names,and have the CPU convert the names to specific channels for tuning theVCR or the cable decoder. This is implemented by incorporating CPU 228and the cable-specific RAM 238 in the remote controller 212.

Remote controller 212 and infrared remote driver 214 are capable ofemulating the infrared command instructions required by the cabledecoder 202 and VCR 206. The command emulation codes for the remotedriver 214 are stored in cable decoder IFR code RAM/ROM memory 239.Commands for popular cable decoders and VCRs are pre-programmed in ROM.Alternatively, the infrared commands of the original remote controllermay be learned by aiming the controllers at the IFR input receiver 264and storing the command codes in RAM memory 239 after processing by CPU228. This process is well known in the art of universal remotecontrollers and need not be detailed here.

As shown in FIG. 22A, the VCR 206 and cable decoder 202 may be manuallycontrolled by remote controller 212, or it may be automaticallycontrolled by infrared remote driver 214.

During recording, the tape index location of the VCR 206 will betransmitted over control/data bus 270 to the CPU 228. This start addressinformation is stored in tape directory RAM memory 234, together withthe program title. The bus 270 also carries VCR control commands forrecording, playback, tuner selection, and other functions, includingpower on/off.

Once a program is recorded, its title and other program information isstored in a section of the Record Memo RAM memory 236. To play back arecorded program, the What's on Tape request will cause a directory ofrecorded programs on the tape to be displayed. When a program isselected for playback from this directory, the tape will fast forward orreverse to the tape index location specified in the Tape Directory RAMmemory 234.

In the system 182, schedule/tape controller 220 is embedded in the VCR211. The VCR tape mechanism 252 contains all the record and playbackelectronics of the video recorder, less the programmable tuner 207. Datarecorded on the control track of a tape is coupled to the CPU 228 overinput bus 258 and output bus 256. The art of recording data on thecontrol track is well known, for example, in recent VCRs with indexingcapability. CPU 228 commands to the VCR 211 are carried over bus 254.When schedule information is to be displayed, video switcher controlinput 246 selects the display generator on line 218. At other times,video switcher 226 selects the output of the VCR mechanism 252 on line250. Schedule information may be downloaded from the VBI. Alternativelyor supplementally, it may be downloaded from a telecommunication line370 to modem 268 and to CPU 228 via line 266. Other means of deliveringschedule information can be employed, including the use of a subcarrierchannel on the cable service.

It should now be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that asystem and method incorporating a novel user interface capable ofachieving the stated objects of the invention has been provided. Theuser interface that is configured to compensate for the particularnature of the television schedule information. The user interface has acursor operation that compensates for an irregular grid format of thetelevision schedule information. The user interface presents theschedule information in a format that compensates for limited resolutionof the television display. The user interface presents supplementalschedule information in overlays that obscure a minimum amount of usefulother information. Order of presentation of the schedule information inthe interface is customizable by user preference.

II. Cable Decoder Controller

Turning now to FIG. 23, there is shown a system 2010 for interfacing acable television decoder 2012 to a VCR 2014 incorporating a televisionscheduling system of the type disclosed in my above-referenced issuedU.S. Pat. No. 4,706,121, which is hereby incorporated by reference inits entirety. As is conventional, the cable signal is supplied to thecable decoder 2012 on cable 2016, and the decoded output of the decoder2012 is supplied to the VCR 2014 through cable 2018 on a fixed channel.The decoded output on the fixed channel is also selectively supplied toa television set 2019, as indicated at 2021. The VCR 2014 receivescommands from its remote controller 2020. A cable decoder remote controlemulator 2022 is connected at 2023 between the VCR 14 and the cabledecoder 12. All channel selection codes supplied to the VCR 2014 by itsremote controller 2020 are converted by the remote control emulator 2022to command codes recognized by the cable decoder 2012. The remotecontrol emulator 2022 also suppresses execution of the channel selectioncodes supplied to the VCR 2014, in order to keep the VCR 2014 tuned tothe fixed channel on which the decoded cable signal is supplied.

When the cable decoder mode is selected, channel indicator 2074 (FIG.24) of the VCR will show the channel selected by the cable decoder unit.There are two reasons for using the VCR 2014 to display the channelnumber instead of the cable decoder 2012: The cable unit may now behidden from sight, which is desired by most users, and it providesimproved infrared isolation of the VCR remote controller 2020 signalfrom unwanted pickup by the cable decoder remote input 2056 (FIG. 24).The benefit of using the VCR 2014 for channel display is that the cabledecoder unit 2012 can be made transparent to the user.

One aspect of making the cable decoder unit 2012 transparent to the userrelates to the time of control of the cable decoder. Just as theschedule system controls the VCR to begin recording at a desiredactivation time, the cable decoder is also controlled and set to thedesired channel at that time. The desired activation time is stored inmemory, along with the channel of the selected program, and these storedvalues are later used to control the cable decoder. The desiredactivation time is typically the broadcast time of the selected program.It should also be noted that in order to allow for possible inaccuraciesin the local system clock time and for variations in the actualbroadcast times, the effective broadcast time employed by the schedulesystem and remote control emulator will typically include a guard timeon the order of a few minutes to either end of the scheduled programtime period. Controlling the cable decoder at the time of broadcast iscritical to making the cable decoder transparent to the user, because ifthe cable decoder were not controlled at that time, one schedule requestcould interfere with another schedule request or with a user manualchannel selection. This storing in memory of both channels and desiredactivation times for program selections is performed whether or not theprogram selections are being entered through an interactive electronicschedule system or are simply being entered manually from a printedtelevision schedule guide.

The remote control emulator 2022 drives an infrared emitter, which ispositioned in front of an infrared input on the cable decoder 2012.Thus, the remote control emulator 2022 replaces the conventional cabledecoder remote controller. The user communicates with the system usingthe VCR remote controller 2020. For the user, the system 2010 appears tofunction in the same manner as would the VCR 2014 connected to the TV2019 with no cable decoder 2012 present. This means that all functions,including on screen programming and the TV schedule system, providedwith the VCR 2014 are fully functional and are operated uniformly by theuser and interact with the user uniformly.

Further details of portions of the VCR 2014 and the cable remoteemulator 2022 are provided in FIG. 24. As indicated at 2024, the remoteemulator 2022 is supplied together with the VCR 2014. The VCR 2014includes a programmable tuner 2026 connected to an RF modulator 2028 bycable 30. The cable decoder 12 is connected to the programmable tuner2026 by the cable 2018, and the RF modulator 2028 is connected to the TV2019 by cable 2032. The remote controller 20 supplies its inputs to aremote receiver 2034 in the cable remote emulator 2022. The remotereceiver 2034 is connected to a central processing unit (CPU) 2036 byline 2038. The CPU 2036 is implemented with a commercially availablemicroprocessor integrated circuit, such as those available from IntelCorporation, Santa Clara, Calif., or Motorola, Inc., Phoenix, Ariz. TheCPU 2036 is connected to a random access memory 2044 and to cabledecoder code memory 2046, which may be either a random access or a readonly memory, by busses 2048 and 2050. The CPU 2036 is connected to aremote driver circuit 2052 by the line 2023. The remote driver circuit2052 is connected to an infrared emitter 2054, which is positioned infront of remote input 2056 of the cable decoder 2012. The CPU 2036 isconnected to the programmable tuner 2026 through a latch 2070 by lines2071 and 2076 and to a channel display 2074 by line 2072. The latch 2070is also connected to the CPU 2036 by line 2058. The latch 2070 allowsthe channel data to be shown on the display 2074 to be separated fromdata which is supplied to the programmable tuner 2026. Data is suppliedto the programmable tuner 2026 only when the latch is enabled on line2058.

In operation, the cable remote emulator 2022 is either programmed tolearn the cable decoder 2012 remote controller codes in the conventionalmanner for teaching a remote controller to learn the commands of aforeign controller, which are then stored in the cable decoder codememory 2046, or the memory 2046 contains conversion codes stored in ROMfor the more popular cable decoder 2012 models. The TV schedule system,which also utilizes the CPU 2036, is set to the cable mode by a commandfrom the remote controller 2020. This causes the programmable tuner2026, also forming part of the TV schedule system, to be non-responsiveto the remote controller 2020 channel commands, as a result of asuitable control signal on line 2058, so that the tuner will remaintuned to the fixed channel for the cable decoder 2012, typically channel3 or 4. However, the channel commands are stored in memory 2044.Whenever the TV schedule system requires channel information, it willrefer to the stored channel information. For example, when the TVschedule system is opened, it will point to the channel currently beingviewed/recorded. When a program is selected from the TV schedule system,the system will automatically generate codes recognizable by the cabledecoder 2012 to change the channel on the cable decoder 2012. When acable input is not being used, the latch 2070 is enabled on line 2058,so that channel commands on line 2071 are supplied to the programmabletuner 2026.

Remote controller 2020 commands are infrared coupled to the CPU 2036 andstored in memory 2044. When the system 2010 includes a cable decoder2012, all channel tuning commands from the remote controller 2020 areinhibited in favor of cable decoder channel commands recognized by thecable decoder and produced by the CPU 2036 through conversion from thechannel tuning commands. The conversion code is contained in a ROM, or aRAM if the system 2010 has a "learn" mode. After a delay to preventpotential conflict of two infrared signals, the converted code iscoupled to the cable decoder remote input 2056 by the infrared emitter2054. The process of emulating codes recognizable by the cable decoder2012 is done in a conventional manner known in the art. All othercommands from the remote controller 2020 are acted upon in the system2010 unchanged.

Thus, as discussed above, in one embodiment a system for interfacing acable television decoder having an input for receiving televisionsignals including a plurality of channels and an output for directing aselected channel from the television signals to a television ortelevision accessory includes a programmable tuning means for selectinga desired television channel signal (connected to the output of thecable television decoder to receive the selected channel on a fixedchannel from the cable television decoder), means (connected to theprogrammable tuning means) for inhibiting the programmable tuning meansfrom tuning to the selected television channel when the cable televisiondecoder is operational, means for emulating the channel selectingcommands of the cable television decoder, means (connected to theemulating means) for transmitting emulated channel selecting commandsfrom the emulating means to the cable television decoder, and means(coupled to the emulating means) for making television channelselections. The means for making television channel selections alsoincludes means for setting a desired activation time for a channelselection, and the system includes a memory (connected to the emulatingmeans) for storing television channel selections and desired activationtimes for the television channel selections.

While the preferred embodiment is directed to controlling the tuner of acable decoder, the teachings of the present invention are equallyapplicable to the control of a tuner of a satellite receiver, atelecommunication fiber optic tuner/receiver used to receive TVprogramming, or any TV tuner apparatus with a tuner that preselectstelevision programs for recording by a VCR. By controlling thepreselection TV tuner, the VCR on-screen unattended recordingprogramming functions need not be duplicated by the preselection TVtuner apparatus. Moreover, the viewer is not burdened with the task ofprogramming more than one TV apparatus.

It should now be apparent to those skilled in the art that a novelsystem for interfacing a cable television decoder to a televisionaccessory capable of achieving the stated objects of the invention hasbeen provided. The system and method provides a single tuningarrangement which will coordinate channel selection information betweena cable decoder and a television schedule system, a VCR or anytelevision device. The tuning arrangement is compatible with alreadyinstalled equipment. The single tuning arrangement eliminatesduplicative programming effort and preserves the advanced features oftelevision devices, such as on-screen programming of unattendedrecording, even when operating behind cable decoders and other TVapparatus with preselection tuners.

III. Background Guide

This aspect of the invention is directed to a convenient background modefor the electronic guide which presents several lines of guideinformation, typically occupying the bottom quarter of the screen,overlaying the current television program. The background mode enablesthe viewer to manually or automatically scroll through preselectedportions of the schedule information. This preselected information isnot just limited to information about a single current (or otherwiseselected) program. This background scrolling guide is particularlyconvenient during a lull in television programming, such as a commercialbreak. As a supplement to the full-screen foreground guide, thebackground mode eliminates the need to master the advance navigationcommands of the full-screen guides.

Due to the limited amount of listing information that can be displayedin the background guide, preselection of the listing is essential. Anindiscriminate scrolling of every listing in a typical one week guidewould require 8 hours, even if each listing is scrolled at a rate of oneper three seconds. Limiting the listings to a fixed time period, such asthe current day, current hour, or primetime is a first step towardimplementing a useful background guide. Other selection criteria, suchas channel or theme, can be logically combined to further filter thelistings down to a total that can be read in a fraction of an hour.

In existing non-interactive scrolling guides available on some cablesystems, the listing cannot be controlled by the viewer. Each time theviewer switches the tuner to the guide channel, the listings is at somerandom point in the one week guide. Listings are groupedchronologically, by day and start time. Under each group are channelidentifiers arranged numerically or by cable source name if it is alisting for cable-TV programming. Without user interaction, there islittle chance that the viewer will randomly tune to the guide channeland see desired listings at the desired time and channels without atedious wait. For an interactive background guide, the ability to resumeand continue forward from the last listing is highly desirable.

In the present invention, there is a concept of a guide session whichallows the user to open the background guide repeatedly, interleavedwith non-background guide activities, such as watching TV or using theforeground guide. During a session, specific setup criteria for thebackground is persistent and stored in electronic memory. This mayinclude the time-period over which the listings are scrolled, whetherthe scrolling is manual or automatic, the channel of the last listing,whether sorting by theme has been setup, whether sorting by favoritechannels has been setup. One or all criterion may be manually changedwithout terminating a session. Some criteria may be automaticallychanged if the cursor or setup of the foreground guide is changed. Asession is completed if the background guide has not been accessed for acertain period of time, or the user manually selects a new session. Atypical setup screen for the background schedule guide is shown in FIG.25, in which setup screen 3010 occupies all of television screen 3020.

During a session, each time the viewer opens the background guide, theinitial listing will continue from (or repeat) the last listingdisplayed in the previous background guide access. The pointer to thecurrent listing within a set of schedule information is known as a tab.The tab can be advanced by manual or automatic scrolling. Additionally,if the current system clock time catches up to a tab in a time-indexedset of schedule information, the tab can be pushed forward from then onin step with the system clock until overridden by a user. The tab ispushed forward as broadcasts end. If the system clock surpasses the tab,once all programs at the tab time setting are over, the tab setting willbe advanced.

The default setting for the tab when the guide is first opened is theearliest start time of any program that is still being broadcast at thetime the guide is opened. The tab is then advanced, and listingsprinted, repeatedly, until the guide screen space is filled. From thatpoint on the tab can be advanced by either manual scrolling or automaticscrolling. Automatic scrolling can be at a fixed number of listings pertime period, or can simply be from the tab being pushed forward byprogram broadcasts ending, as described above.

A session does not end when scrolled to the end of the time periodwindow, but repeats itself when all listings in a time-period have beenscrolled. By providing persistent storage of the last time-period, thelast listing, or tab, within the time period, the last channel, and thesetup criteria for the foreground guide, the viewer is freed from thechore of remembering and reentering a host of background setup criteriaeach time the background guide is opened. This is illustrated in FIGS.26a and 26b. FIG. 26a shows the display of a background guide 3110. Ifat three o'clock the user suspends the background guide for an hour, andthen reactivates it within the same session, the display uponreactivation would be as shown in FIG. 26b. Background guide display3120 of FIG. 26b is determined by the same stored operatingcharacteristics such as theme, time period, manually scrolling,automatically scrolling, etc., as were used for the display of FIG. 26a.Note that the tab, or the pointer to the current listing, has beenpushed forward from three o'clock to four o'clock by the advancing timeon the system clock. The status of displays 3110 and 3120 aresubstantially the same, except that the passage of time causes thedisplayed schedule information to only partially overlap.

In the preferred implementation, pressing the background guide commandonce will start display of a background guide. It will list programsaccording to previous criteria selected by the setup menus for thebackground guide and the foreground guide. Depending on the prior setup,the background guide may automatically scroll, or may be manuallystepped using the Page Up/Dn keys. The channel of the backgroundlistings may be sequenced by pressing the Channel Up/Dn key. Dependingon the background mode selected, pressing a Channel key will cause thelisting to jump to the next channel that is defined either by theChannel Up/Dn keys, or according to the sequence defined under theforeground guide. Pressing the TV, Guide, or Theme key will terminatethe background guide display, but not the session.

To change the mode of the background guide, the background guide commandis entered again while a background guide is displayed. A backgroundguide setup menu will be displayed displacing the background listings.One such setup screen 3010 is shown in FIG. 25, in which setup screen3010 is shown to cover the entire television screen 3020. In alternativeembodiments, the setup screen occupies only the same portion of thetelevision screen as the background guide. From the setup menu, theviewer may select another background mode:

Scroll current listings for all channels. This is the default mode whena new session is started.

Scroll listings for current channel,

Scroll listings according to the selection criteria when the foregroundguide mode was last exited,

Scroll according to the theme criteria when the theme guide was lastexited.

The setup menu also allows the viewer to change the time period from thedefault period. The default time period is the current time to programsstarting in the next 3 hours. The time period is shown by start timeblock 3030 and end time block 3040. At the end of the time-period, thelisting will loop back to the start of the time-period. If there is aPrimetime command, actuating this command will cause the time-period tobe automatically set to the designated primetime. The viewer can alsoselect a new session, in which all the default selections (including thedefault time-period) will be reinstated.

The following is a detailed description of each mode:

1) All selected channel scroll. This is the default mode when a newsession is started. The first listing of the background guide is for theprogram on the current tuner channel. Pressing the page up/down keymomentarily will manually advance the listings starting with the listinggroup for the current time. When all channels with the current starttime is displayed, the next group of listings for the next start timewill be displayed. Pressing the page key for 3 seconds, or longer, willstart automatic scrolling of the guide. The guide will scroll throughall channels which have been declared favorites in the foreground gridguide. If the favorite channel menu has not been setup, by default, allchannels will be considered favorites. Typically, all channels listed inthe opening few pages of the grid guide are favorite channels.

a) Pressing a channel key will cause the listing to jump to the nextchannel listed in the grid guide. The Up channel key will cause listingto advance to the next higher listed channel, and to the previous listedchannel for the Down channel key. Pressing the page key momentarily willcause scrolling to stop. The next page key command will resume manualscrolling of the background guide.

b) Pressing the primetime command will change the time-period to matchthe primetime period. The latter has a default time of 7 PM to 11 PM,but may be defined by the user when setting up the foreground guide.

c) The viewer can immediately change tuner channel to one that isdisplayed in the background guide by pressing the Enter key. Thebackground mode is not exited, and the viewer may continue scrolling thebackground guide.

d) To exit, press TV or any other mode command.

e) To resume the background mode last selected, press the backgroundguide key. If the session is not over, the guide will continue from thelast listing displayed.

While a background guide is displayed, pressing the background guidecommand key will toggle presentation of the setup menu. Another mode canbe selected without ending the current session. For example, a singlechannel mode can be selected and scrolled over the current time-period.Pressing the background guide command again will toggle back to TVviewing with a background guide.

2) Single channel scroll. This mode may be selected by pointing to theSingle Channel mode in the setup menu, or by entering the number #2 key.The single channel background guide is almost identical to the singlechannel foreground guide, except that only one or two programs isdisplayed.

a) Pressing the page up/down command will manually display listing forthe selected channel. If the page key is held down for three seconds, orlonger, the guide will scroll at a predetermined rate automatically inthe direction of the selected channel key (up or down). To return tomanual scrolling, press the page key momentarily and release.

b) Pressing either the up/down channel key will cause the listing tojump to the listing for the next channel.

c) The viewer can immediately change tuner channel to one that isdisplayed in the background guide by pressing the Enter key. Thebackground mode is not exited, and the viewer may continue scrolling thebackground guide.

d) TO exit, press TV or any other mode command.

e) Press the background guide command to resume listing. If a newsession is not started, the first displayed listing will continue fromthe last listing scrolled before exiting the background mode.

Pressing the background command will open the setup menu. A differenttime-period can be selected if desired. Alternatively, the user canselect New Session, to reset to the default time-period. Or the viewercan select another background mode. After the setup menu selection iscompleted, pressing the background guide command guide will restartdisplay of the background guide.

3) Scroll according to the criteria setup for the guide. This backgroundmode preselects display listing according to the guide mode that waslast active. It can be the grid guide, or the theme guide. This modeprovides an alternative way of viewing the listings normally seen on thegrid guide or the theme guide, whichever was last viewed. Specifically,the start time is indicated by the leading edge of the grid guidecursor. The default time-period is 3 hours. This background guide willscroll through the listings of channels that are defined in the gridguide.

A typical application for this mode is as follows: assume that theviewer has started browsing the grid guide and decides to return to TVviewing. During the next commercial break, the viewer can open thebackground guide to resume displaying listings of programs starting atthe cursor position in the grid guide. This eliminates the need tospecify favorite channels in the background guide duplicating the setupeffort of the grid guide. Likewise, if the viewer was browsing the themeguide, the background guide will resume listings of programs at thecursor position in the theme guide. This eliminates the need for thereviewer to setup theme and subtheme criteria in the background mode.

a) Pressing the Enter key will cause the tuner channel to changeimmediately to the listed channel in the background guide.

b) Pressing the page key will manually advance the listings. Momentarilyholding the page key down for several seconds will cause the display toautomatically scroll. Pressing any page key again will cause thescrolling to stop and to resume manual advancing of the listings.

c) To exit, press TV or any other mode command.

Channel presentation on the grid guide

It is desirable to list programs in the order of most favorite channelsinstead of sequentially by channel number or alphabetically as in aprinted television guide. A channel menu is provided to allow the viewerto arrange channel listings in the preferred order. In this way, themost favorite channels will be grouped together, on one or two pages,greatly reducing the need to perform channel paging. This is usually aone-time installation menu that allows the user to define channels thatare favorites, and to be listed in the grid guide in a preferred order.

The channel select menu provides a list of all channels that can bereceived by a viewer. From this list, channels can be designated asfavorites. Favorite channels are automatically given certain priorities.For example, in the event that the schedule memory is insufficient tostore all the listing information downloaded from broadcast, programnotes and other descriptive information for non-favorite channels willbe discarded before discarding such information for favorite channels.In case of severe shortage of memory space, listings for non-favoritechannels will be discarded first.

The channel select menu also allows the viewer to decide on the listingpriority of favorite channels on the grid guide. In one implementation,the channel select menu is a list of all channels, arranged in columns.The first column on the left, from top to bottom, will be the order inwhich channel listings will appear in the grid guide. Once favoritechannels are designated, they will automatically be grouped together inthe left-most columns. For example, if there are four favorite channels,such as CNN, DISN, HBO and SHO, it is possible to position SHO as thefirst channel in the grid guide. To do this, highlight the locationwhere the new channel is to be moved. In this case, CNN is firsthighlighted. Next select the preferred channel, SHO. When this is done,CNN, DISN, and HBO will shift down one slot, and SHO will be enteredinto the first slot.

The channel select menu is maintained in a persistent (a non-volatile)memory and is used by foreground and background guides and serves asuser input selection criteria when listing program in the grid guide, orto determine the order and which channels are to be listed in thebackground guide.

Grazing

Additional grazing features are illustrated in FIGS. 27, and 28A-B.

The following is a description of a more comprehensive grazing functionthat allows a viewer to retrieve guide information for other channels,without leaving the current channel and without significantlyobstructing viewing of the current program. This grazing guide,consisting of a few lines of text, is displayed momentarily at thebottom of the screen.

The following implementation provides a consistent user interface forthe various modes.

0. While viewing TV, pressing INFO will pop-up a Grazing Title for thecurrently viewed program.

1. To see grazing titles for other channels, without leaving the currentchannel, press the UP or Down arrow keys to change the channel of thedisplayed information. The Up or Down key will shift through a set ofchannels determined by the selected grazing mode, as explained below.

2. While the Grazing Info Pop up is open, pressing the Left of Rightarrow keys will open up a list of grazing modes (displayed horizontallyacross the bottom of the screen). The last established mode will behighlighted when the Right or Left key is pressed first pressed. Thismode list will momentarily displayed (hiding the Grazing Title) eachtime the Left or Right arrow is pressed. After about two seconds, themode list will disappears and the Grazing Title will re-appear.

While the mode list is displayed, pressing the Right key will select themode to the right of the current mode, and pressing the Left key willselect the mode to the left. The newly selected mode will be highlightedand the previous selected mode will be de-highlighted. Repeated pressingof either will toggle through the following Grazing Title modes:

a. By favorite channels (channels selected using the favorite channelmenu).

b. By movies channels (channels now showing movies).

c. By sports (channels now carrying sports programming).

d. By Pay Per View (all channels carrying PPV programing)

e. By Theme. These are the channels that currently meet the Themecriteria that was last established in the Theme menu.

3. Two seconds after a new mode is selected, the mode list vanishes andthe Grazing Title for the newly selected mode will be displayed. Inanother two or three seconds, the Info Pop up will also vanishes,restoring the screen to full TV display.

4. Channel Count for each mode.

Some modes, particularly certain submodes of theme, may be so narrowthat no channels meet the selection criteria. To inform the viewer inadvance, a channel count for each mode will be displayed alongside themode label. This count is a tally of all channels that are broadcastingshows meeting the mode criteria. If the viewer selects a mode with no(0) channels, a "No channels are available" message will be displayed.

Grazing Titles on Channels Other Than the Current Channel

The user may wish to find out what programs are airing on channels otherthan the current channel without returning and without obstructing theview of the current program. This can be accomplished by pressing the UPor DOWN arrow keys while viewing TV.

When the user presses UP, the Grazing Titles pop up for the next channelin the user's favorites order is displayed. In the same way, when theuser presses DOWN, the Grazing Titles pop up for the previous channelsin the user's favorites order is displayed. The Grazing Titles pop upremains on the screen for two seconds, the same mount of time GrazingTitles pop ups remain on the screen during normal channel grazing.

While a Grazing Titles pop up for a channel other than the currentchannel is on the screen, most of the keys have the same functionalitythey have in normal TV state with Grazing Titles; however, there arethree whose functions are altered.

It should further be apparent to those skilled in the art that variouschanges in form and details of the invention as shown and described maybe made. It is intended that such changes be included within the spiritand scope of the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:
 1. In a video recorder including a future schedulememory adapted to store the channel and time of occurrence of programsdesired to be recorded, the video recorder being adapted to receivetelevision input signals from a multi-channel tuner/descrambler having afirst remote control receiver for channel selection, the improvementcomprising:a first remote control transmitter forming a part of thevideo recorder and operative under control of signals stored in saidfuture schedule memory of the video recorder, said first remote controltransmitter being adapted to provide signals to said remote controlreceiver of the tuner/descrambler for channel selection at the time ofoccurrence of a program to be recorded to cause said tuner/descramblerto provide the video recorder with the appropriate television signal tobe recorded; a second remote control receiver forming part of the videorecorder; and a second remote control transmitter for provision ofsignals to said second remote control receiver in order to allow remotecontrol of the video recorder and of the multi-channel tuner/descramblerthrough signals provided by the second remote control transmitter to thevideo recorder and from the first remote control transmitter of thevideo recorder to the first remote control receiver, whereby a singleremote control unit may be used to control both the video recorder andthe multi-channel tuner/descrambler.
 2. In a video recorder including afuture schedule memory adapted to store the channel and time ofoccurrence of programs desired to be recorded, the video recorder beingadapted to receive television input signals from a multi-channeltuner/descrambler having a first remote control receiver for channelselection, the improvement comprising:a first remote control transmitterforming a part of the video recorder and operative under control ofsignals stored in said future schedule memory of the video recorder,said first remote control transmitter being adapted to provide signalsto said remote control receiver of the tuner/descrambler for channelselection at the time of occurrence of a program to be recorded to causesaid tuner/descrambler to provide the video recorder with theappropriate television signal to be recorded, said first remote controltransmitter controlling the channel selection and the energization ofthe tuner/descrambler; a second remote control receiver forming part ofthe video recorder; a second remote control transmitter for provision ofsignals to said second remote control receiver in order to allow remotecontrol of the video recorder and of the multi-channel tuner/descramblerthrough signals provided by the second remote control transmitter to thevideo recorder and from the first remote control transmitter of thevideo recorder to the first remote control receiver, whereby a singleremote control unit may be used to control both the video recorder andthe multi-channel tuner/descrambler; wherein said first remote controltransmitter is connected to the video recorder via a flexible cable,said first remote control transmitter being positioned properly withrespect to said first remote control receiver of the multi-channeltuner/descrambler for receipt of said signals generated by said firstremote control transmitter by said first remote control receiver; andwherein the first remote control receiver and the first remote controltransmitter communicate via infrared signals.
 3. A method of controllinga multi-channel tuner/descrambler for television signals having a remotecontrol receiver for channel selection for recording future scheduledprograms, said method comprising the steps of:storing the channel andtime of occurrence of future programs desired to be recorded in a futureschedule memory; providing remote control signals to the remote controlreceiver via a remote control transmitter when the current timecoincides with said time of occurrence of future programs desired to berecorded; recording the television signal output of the multi-channeltuner/descrambler via a video recorder when the current time coincideswith said time of occurrence of future programs desired to be recorded;controlling operation of the video recorder via a second remote controlreceiver disposed in the video recorder; and providing second remotecontrol signals to the second remote control receiver via a secondremote control transmitter, whereby both the multi-channeltuner/descrambler and the video recorder may be controlled by the secondremote control transmitter.
 4. The method claimed in claim 3,wherein:said step of providing remote control signals to the remotecontrol receiver via a remote control transmitter includesgeneratinginfrared remote control signals via said remote control transmitter forselection of the channel tuned by the multi-channel tuner/descramblerand for energization of the multi-channel tuner/descrambler, connectingsaid remote control transmitter to said future schedule memory via aflexible cable, and disposing said remote control transmitter proximatethe remote control receiver.
 5. A video system comprising:amulti-channel source of television signals; a multi-channel tunerconnected to said multi-channel source of television signals having aremote control receiver for channel selection based upon received remotecontrol signals; a video recorder connected to said multi-channel tunerhaving means operative to generate a signal specifying a channelselection; and a remote control transmitter operative to receive saidsignal specifying a channel selection generated by said video recorderand operative to generate remote control signals corresponding to saidchannel selection for receipt by said remote control receiver of saidmulti-channel tuner for channel selection.
 6. The video system of claim5, wherein:said multi-channel source of television signals includes atelevision cable including at least one scrambled channel; saidmulti-channel tuner consists of a cable box adapted to receive aselected channel from said television cable corresponding to receivedremote control signals, descramble the television signal on saidselected channel if said selected channel is one of said at least onescrambled channel, and output the television signals of said selectedchannel on a predetermined channel; said video recorder further includesa second remote control receiver for control of video recorderfunctions, and means for generating remote control signals via saidremote control transmitter for channel selection corresponding to remotecontrol signals received via said second remote control receiver; andsaid video system further includes a second remote control transmitteroperative to generate remote control signals for receipt by said secondremote control receiver of said video recorder for control of videorecorder functions, whereby said second remote control transmitter maybe used to control both said video recorder and said multi-channeltuner.
 7. The video system of claim 6, wherein:said second remotecontrol transmitter includes means for providing channel selectionsignals; and said remote control transmitter controls the channelselection of said multi-channel tuner corresponding to channel selectionsignals provided by said second remote control transmitter.
 8. The videosystem of claim 6, wherein:said second remote control transmitterincludes means for providing energization signals; and said remotecontrol transmitter controls the energization of said multi-channeltuner corresponding to energization signals provided by said secondremote control transmitter.
 9. The video system of claim 5, wherein:saidvideo recorder further includesa future schedule memory adapted to storethe channel and time of occurrence of future programs, a real time clockcircuit for generating present time signals, a controller connected tosaid future schedule memory, said clock circuit, and said remote controltransmitter, said controller operative to control said remote controltransmitter to transmit remote control signals to the remote controlreceiver of the multi-channel tuner for selection of the channel storedin said future program memory when said present time clock signalcoincides with the time of occurrence of the future program.
 10. Thevideo system of claim 9, wherein said video recorder further includes:atape drive unit adapted to record television signals on a video tape andplay back television signals previously recorded on video tape, andwherein said future schedule memory stores the channel and time ofoccurrence of future programs desired to be recorded, and saidcontroller is further connected to said tape drive unit to control saidtape drive unit to record the television signal received from themulti-channel tuner when said present time clock signal coincides withthe time of occurrence of a future program to be recorded.
 11. The videosystem of claim 5, wherein:said remote control transmitter is connectedto the video recorder via a flexible cable, said remote controltransmitter being positioned properly with respect to said remotecontrol receiver of the multi-channel tuner for receipt of said remotecontrol signals generated by said remote control transmitter by saidremote control receiver.
 12. A video recorder adapted to receivetelevision input signals from a multi-channel tuner/descrambler whichhas a remote control receiver for channel selection, said video recordercomprising:a future schedule memory adapted to store the channel andtime of occurrence of future programs to be recorded; a clock circuitfor generating present time clock signals; a tape drive unit adapted torecord television signals on video tape and play back television signalspreviously recorded on video tape; a remote control transmitteroperative to generate remote control signals for receipt by the remotecontrol receiver of the tuner/descrambler for channel selection; acontroller connected to said future schedule memory, said clock circuit,said tape drive unit and said remote control transmitter, saidcontroller operative tocontrol said remote control transmitter totransmit remote control signals to the remote control receiver of themulti-channel tuner/descrambler for selection of the channel to berecorded stored in said future program memory when said present timeclock signal coincides with the time of occurrence of a future programto be recorded, and control said tape drive unit to record thetelevision signal received from the multi-channel tuner/descrambler whensaid present time clock signal coincides with the time of occurrence ofa future program to be recorded.
 13. The video recorder of claim 12,further comprising:a second remote control receiver for receipt ofsecond remote control signals; said controller being further connectedto said second remote control receiver and further operative to controlvideo recorder functions in accordance with received second remotecontrol signals, and generate remote control signals via said remotecontrol transmitter for channel selection corresponding to second remotecontrol signals received via said second remote control receiver; and asecond remote control transmitter separated from said video recorder forprovision of signals to said second remote control receiver in order toallow remote control of the video recorder and of the multi-channeltuner/descrambler through signals provided by the second remote controltransmitter to the video recorder and from the remote controltransmitter of the video recorder to the remote control receiver,whereby said second remote control unit may be used to control both thevideo recorder and the multi-channel tuner/descrambler.